The Shining has got to be the best horror film ever made. I love the way the camera moves--

Eddy nods along, but Olly comes in with a plate, interrupting:

OLLY

The Shining is not a horror film.

GARY

Yes it is.

Olly takes a bite of toast, then leans forward to get into it.

OLLY

No, it's not. The Shining is a psychological thriller that illustrates family dynamic from--

Eddy scoffs.

OLLY

I'm serious. Look, just like Poltergeist, it plays with parental anxieties. Whereas the parents in Poltergeist are scared that they're losing their kids, Jack and Wendy are more afraid of having their kid taken away. You see...

Gary rolls his eyes.

OLLY

... Danny has the shining, the ability to talk to others with his mind. This is known to his parents as...

(waits for answer, not getting one)

... Tony. But, what Tony really is, or what he represents, is a child's ability to talk to others, to reach out for help. The film is best understood through Jack. Jack is your everyday man, suppressed and moulded by society. He has to be a father, he needs to provide for his family, he--

GARY

Hardly justifies him trying to murder his wife and kid.

OLLY

Jack doesn't try to kill his family, the family collapses under the pressure of social expectation. Jack is lashing out at society through his family - who he feels he is losing.

EDDY

But the film is about isolation.

OLLY

Being isolated with the people we are supposed to love, those who we live for. But, what happens when you feel you're not enough or that the ones you love are working against you?

GARY

(knife raised)

You get the axe out.

Eddy laughs along.

OLLY

Not an axe. And whatever happened to empathy? Again, Jack isn't lashing out at his family but at the society who labels them and brands him. I mean, the duality of man, right?

GARY

That was Full Metal Jacket.

EDDY

What?

GARY

The Jungian thing.

OLLY

People are contradictory by nature, it's just how we are, and apparently that's just unforgivable by the standards of society. That's all I'm trying to say. Anyhow, the only person Jack got to was the cook. His wife smashed him on the head with the bat, sliced his hand with the knife, took his kid--

GARY

Why are you defending this guy?

OLLY

(tuts)

I--

GARY

And what does 'contradictory' have to do with anything?

OLLY

Everything! Control is what people don't have, we live lives bound by definitions, words, other people, perception. How can we all be expected to survive under this tremendous pressure? We are told to be one thing and the polar opposite all at the same time. I mean, with all that tension, the mind being torn in two directions, 'do I try to be a successful writer?', or 'do I concentrate on my family?'... something will eventually have to give.

GARY

Wait, how does this not make it a horror film?

OLLY

The horror genre has been abused for forever, to call a film a horror movie is to say it's not worth anything more than a few scares.

EDDY

(agreeing)

Mmm.

OLLY

Exactly. Why would you insult The Shining? You need to understand--

GARY

Insult? Olly, you don't know anything about horror.

He scoffs.

GARY

The Shining simply is a horror movie whether you like it or not. The film may be about the horrors of a man's mind or maybe the family dynamic as you like to put it, but--

OLLY

Think of this: there's no such thing as fish.

GARY

(with a laugh)

What are you talking about?

OLLY

The Shining isn't like any other horror film.

GARY

Hold on--

OLLY

The Shining is actually Rebecca, but without the resolution of the last five minutes.

EDDY

(goes unnoticed)

What about Secret Window?

GARY

That means nothing. The--

OLLY

Hitchcock's films always had more to them... take The Birds for example, a ridiculous film, if not for the birds actually meaning something. Rebecca--

GARY

Mean what?

OLLY

I forget. Rebecca and The Shining just are on about the same thing is all I'm trying to say.

GARY

It doesn't retrac--

OLLY

Psycho! Psycho the best example! It's about marriage, about what women want and men need. Marriage is suppose to serve those two ideas, but for some, the wife just isn't as good as mummy and for others the security just isn't there. What I'm trying to say--

EDDY

What about Repulsion?

GARY

There's a horror film!

OLLY

Psychological drama.

GARY

Oh, come on--

EDDY

I hate eyeballs.

OLLY

(laughing)

What?

EDDY

The opening shot of that film is one of the most horrific things I've ever seen. The eyeball, it's... like an organism of its own. Hate them.

Well, the eyeball and that woman with the dancing and double joints and elbows and shit in Metropolis. Have you ever--

OLLY

Hold on. For a moment, please...

They all drop the talk.

OLLY

Tomorrow we go to sleep. Right?

EDDY

No, we just jump.

OLLY

We've jumped all the way here.

EDDY

So what? It's the quickest way, there's a jumper just on the other side of the star.

GARY

Not the quickest way.

OLLY

That's true, the closest exit point is much too far off, we'd be wasting our time.

EDDY

No.

GARY

I think we should sleep. Light push it. No jumpers.

OLLY

There you go. Two against one, tomorrow we sleep.

EDDY

Hold on if we--

GARY

Hey, Eddy.

Gary brings his fork up to his eyeball, threatening to touch it.

EDDY

Go ahead, I don't care if you stab yourself in the eye.

Gary drops the fork then picks up a fried egg to hold up to his face.

The yolk.

CUT TO:

EXT. SPACE - SAME

The star.

Bell slowly moves across it.

CUT TO:

Gary slits the yolk open, letting it ooze.

CUT TO:

The star.

Bell gone, its calm presence lingers.

INT. EDDY'S ROOM - LATER

One huge framed Mariah Carey poster from the early 90s. Below it, Eddy lies in bed staring up at the ceiling.

INT. GARY'S ROOM

Gary sits up in bed twisting the wedding ring on his finger.

INT. OLLY'S ROOM

Olly works on his comics - more blood, guts, guns, knives and tits.

He rubs his eyes then throws the pad in the top drawer of the desk next to his bed.

Before closing the drawer he straightens out the pad so it doesn't cover up a picture of a young woman. His MOTHER.

EXT. SPACE

Bell wanders in the starlit abyss.

INT. KITCHEN

Olly opens the fridge, it's empty. On the inside is a small control panel with a touch screen.

The screen has two options: VIEW BASKET and EDIT BASKET.

Olly taps EDIT.

He scrolls down a long list of food with dates and times next to them until he hits the bottom where there's a +, - and X.

He clicks X.

Two options come up: CANCEL and SUSPEND.

He taps SUSPEND.

Boxes meant for a date pop up, he starts punching in numbers.

INT. COCKPIT

Eddy sits in front of the control panel working on a screen. Olly walks in.

OLLY

How much longer?

Eddy gets out of the chair.

EDDY

Uhh...

(final taps)

... the course is set so we can go now.

OLLY

All right.

They both walk out of the cockpit, into:

INT. CORRIDOR

Eddy stops at his door.

EDDY

You now, they say the fumes are carcinogenic.

OLLY

Who's they?

Eddy shrugs.

OLLY

They also say that you can become immune to the anti-ageing chemicals.

EDDY

There was that guy who never woke up.

OLLY

Oh, yeah?

EDDY

The fumes put him in a coma.

OLLY

(shouting)

Gary?

(back to Eddy)

Seriously, who told you that?

Eddy gestures to Gary walking down the hall.

OLLY

Well...

(to Gary)

It's set.

Gary walks past Olly and...

THUD

... playfully punches him in the stomach.

GARY

Ok.

Olly punches Gary in the shoulder, arms raised, laughing, backing into his room.

Gary pulls his door shut, not interested in a play fight.

OLLY (O.S)

Bitch.

He walks on, knocking Eddy in the stomach.

GARY

Sweet dreams.

INT. EDDY'S ROOM

Changed, Eddy lies on the bed.

EDDY

Sleeper.

BEEP

The mattress drops down into the foundation of the bed.

BEEP

A glass lid seals Eddy in. He gets comfortable.

B-BEEEEE--THUNK

Eddy freezes.

B-BEEEEE--THUNK

EDDY

Cancel.

The lid retracts and the mattress rises. Eddy gets off the bed, inspecting it.

Finding no apparent errors he turns around to leave the room, but Olly walks in.

EDDY

Funny, huh?

OLLY

It would be, but mine's not working either.

Gary comes up behind him.

EDDY

It was you then.

GARY

I thought it was Olly.

There's a moment of silence as they look at each other.

OLLY

There's probably a problem with the pipes, I think--

GARY

It was you then.

OLLY

No.

EDDY

Can we skip this bit and get to the part where the sleepers are fixed?

OLLY

(tuts)

The particle crawlers may have overheated again, meaning the pipes have probably fallen loose or got tangled. I knew they would eventually.

Gary cocks his head in agreement.

INT. COCKPIT - LATER

Gary relaxes in the chair next to Eddy as he taps at the screen.

The screen reads: PARTICLE CRAWLER COOLING SYSTEM ERROR.

Eddy picks up a set of headphones with an attached microphone.

EXT. SPACE - SAME

Olly is in a green space suit, breathing heavily into the helmet (like in 2001...).

Inhale...

Exhale...

Inhale...

Exhale...

EDDY (V.O)

(Olly's helmet)

All right, cut it out.

Olly laughs.

OLLY

I'm telling you, next time we're getting red. Every time I say we're getting red and we never do.

EDDY (V.O)

How does it look?

OLLY

I'm not there yet.

Olly tugs on the line that attaches him to the ship, bringing him closer.

He floats toward the cockpit.

When he reaches it he taps on the window, smiling in like an idiot.

Eddy shakes his head. Gary ignores him.

OLLY

You know, I want thrusters too. None of this Spiderman shit.

He taps the one button on his helmet and places his palms on the ship, they bind like magnets.

Eddy gestures for him to move.

He starts pulling himself across the hull toward the wings - particle crawlers.

EDDY (V.O)

We're not getting thrusters.

OLLY

(sighs)

Do you know how big space is? Do you know how long it'd take ages to pollute it all?

EDDY (V.O)

How long till you get to the cooler?

OLLY

I've just got to get under the particle crawlers.

He reaches the wire and slides under.

Past, he pushes the button on his helmet. The tip of his finger glows bright blue.

He circles an area on the ship.

KATSHHHH

Gas is released, a panel opens up. Inside tubes are loose and wrapped around each other.

OLLY

Ok, I'm going to need you to turn off the cooler.

EDDY (V.O)

Give it two seconds, then go ahead. What's it look like?

OLLY

Yeah, just tangled. Circuitry's cut off.

A white tube within the panel deflates, Olly starts pulling wires around to untangle and then to slot them back into their sockets.

OLLY

Did I ever tell you about my great, great uncle? He invented the particle crawler.

EDDY (V.O)

(doesn't believe him)

Sure.

OLLY

I'm serious. My aunt used to tell me about it all the time. He was an engineer working for the government.

EDDY (V.O)

What one?

OLLY

The main one, back when there was only three. Anyway, my great, great aunt apparently gave him the idea for it.

EDDY (V.O)

How's that?

OLLY

He was working on particle manipulation. He aimed to resize atoms and harness their energy, like with the lithium-Q bombs. He wasn't interested in blowing things up though, he wanted to use particles swept up in solar winds as an energy source for a ship. He had the theory down, but when it came to testing, experiments would just explode. He couldn't properly harness the energy of particles as they shrank back down because he was trying to do it through a jet with trillions of them at a time.

EDDY (V.O)

Cooler needs to go back on.

OLLY

Give me a second.

He untwists the white tube and slots it into a holder along the panel door, keeping it in place.

OLLY

Turn it on.

The tube expands in the holder. Olly lets it go and closes the panel.

EDDY (V.O)

Ok, we're good.

He clicks the button on his helmet and starts making his way toward to the front of the ship.

OLLY

On my way back.

EDDY (V.O)

All right.

OLLY

Where was I?

EDDY (V.O)

Jets.

OLLY

Ok, trillions of particles would just blow the thing, so after years of funding, he's about to be shut down. He goes home and cries to his wife: 'Oh, Esmeralda, I've failed, you'll have to divorce me, I--

EDDY (V.O)

Esmeralda?

OLLY

Yeah, she was Spanish or Colombian or something. So, he's crying to my aunt and she's trying to comfort him: 'the funding will come through, I know you're capable, la-di-da-di-la'. He loses focus. He stops... he looks at her face. He hasn't seen her properly in months, he's been too busy with work. Looking at his wife's face, she's pretty old, as is he, her skin isn't great, her pores are pretty visible on her face, her nose especially.

EDDY (V.O)

My mother was like that.

OLLY

(tuts)

Yeah, well. He stops and he looks... 'Essy!'. He jumps up and kisses her face. Two months later we have the particle crawlers and he's a millionaire.

EDDY (V.O)

Wow. Hang on, where'd the money go?

No reply.

Olly reaches the cockpit window, staying out of sight.

Silence...

EDDY (V.O)

Olly?

BAM

He smacks the window, then, with a stupid grin on his face, he looks in.

No reaction. Eddy shakes his head. Gary's still ignoring him.

OLLY

(sighs)

Nothing?

EDDY (V.O)

All right, ten seconds.

Olly starts pulling his way under the ship.

EDDY

Why aren't particle crawlers called Esmeralda's then?

OLLY

You know, I don't know. Doesn't sound too fitting though, does it? He never let her get any kind of treatment though.

EDDY (V.O)

Huh?

OLLY

Like to fix her pores. Despite the millions he had he never wanted his wife to change.

A hatch opens up under the ship as Olly makes his way toward it.

EDDY (V.O)

My grandmother must have got facial reconstructive surgery every five years for the last fifty of her life.